The present invention relates to apparatus and method for displaying on a two dimensional plane three coordinates of an object in a field of view. More specifically, a method and apparatus are provided for generating images of objects in a field of view, the images having a brightness associated therewith corresponding to the relative distances from a reference point of objects represented by the images.
Prior art methods of representing a scene, such as color or black-and-white photographs, infra-red or radar pictures, yield a picture in two dimensions from which two coordinates of any point in the scene can be accurately determined. However, the distance to an object in the scene and the distances of the objects from each other in depth must be inferred by various distance clues based on the experience of the human viewer. The accuracy of this method of distance determination is highly variable, depending, as it does, on the experience and ability of the individual, the distance clues available, the clues utilized and other factors. Nevertheless, while a computer could determine the two above-mentioned planar coordinates with accuracy as great as or greater than a human, it would be extremely difficult for it to make any determination whatsoever of the distance of an object from the viewpoint, or the distances between objects in depth.